Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

If you’ve never experienced the joy of eating a homemade fried tortilla chip then you are missing out my friend.

Let’s fix that ASAP!

How to Make: Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

All together this soup takes about 30 minutes to make. Most of that time is pretty hands off with the exception of when you fry the tortillas.

Start out by warming up the instant pot and sautéing your onion, garlic & spices. This does two things:

Adds another layer of flavour.

Begins warming up the instant pot so that it will take less time for it to come up to temperature later to cook.

Moving on, simply add the remaining soup ingredients (chicken, stock and crushed tomatoes) then set & seal. The soup itself only needs five minutes to cook, though the instant pot will take about 5-10 minutes to come up to full pressure. That being said, your soup will be ready start to finish in under 30 minutes.

When it’s all done cooking allow your instant pot to depressurise for another 5-10 minutes. With most instant pots you won’t even need to do anything extra here so go ahead and carry on with whatever you’re doing.

Fried Tortilla Chips

The key here to getting perfectly crispy fried tortilla strips is to:

Make sure the oil is hot.

Fry your strips in batches so as not to crowd the pot.

It’s important to choose a heat stable oil that doesn’t easily smoke for frying – something like avocado oil is a great option if you prefer avoiding vegetable oils but you can feel free whatever you have on hand.

Heat the oil in large wok or pot on high. You don’t need too much oil – just enough to cover the bottom as you can see in the bottom left picture above. To test when your oil is ready get your fingers wet with a little bit of water and flick into the oil. When the oil sizzles when hit with water droplets it’s hot enough.

Drop the tortilla strips into the oil and fry about 30 – 60 until lightly golden. Repeat this process until done and that’s it! Altogether this takes about 5 or so minute.

Fried Tortillas

6 gluten free corn tortillas , cut into 1/2 wide strips

avocado oil , or another neutral oil suitable for frying

Instructions

Press the sauté button on the instant pot and wait for it to heat up. Add the oil. When the oil is simmering add the onion, garlic and spices (paprika, cumin, coriander, chili powder and oregano). Cook and stir for 5 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes and stock. Add the chicken breast - make sure to submerge in the broth.

Secure the lid on the instant pot and make sure the dial on top is set to 'sealing'. Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. (Press 'Manual' or 'Pressure Cook' and set the timer to 5 minutes.)

When the time is up you can use the quick release method or let pressure come down naturally.

After removing the lid carefully remove the chicken breasts from the soup and transfer to a cutting board or a plate. Using a couple of forks shred the chicken into small pieces and then add back into the soup.

Tortilla Strips

While the instant pot is depressurising prep the tortilla strips.

In a medium sized sauce pot pour about 1 inch of oil. Heat the oil over a medium heat. Get your fingers wet with a little bit of water and flick into the oil - if the oil sizzles when it comes in contact with the water it's ready for frying. If it doesn't sizzle wait a little longer until it's ready. If you add the tortillas too soon they will become soggy and not crispy.

Carefully adding about 4-5 tortilla strips in the oil at a time making sure not to overcrowd the pan. Let the tortillas cook about 1-2 minutes on each side until it turns lightly goldened. Use a wire skimmer or slotted metal spoon to remove the strips - let the excess oil drain away and then set aside to cool/dry on a paper towel lined plate. Repeat with the remaining tortillas strips until complete. Sprinkle with a little salt.

Serve the crispy tortilla strips over the soup and top with fresh cilantro, lime juice sour cream and/or cheese and enjoy!

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